1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ticket management system for commerce using a ticket such as a money ticket and an electronic value, and specifically to a technique of using the ticket together with the electronic value.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, information relating to an amount of money and the like can be sent and received via a communication line. Since an electronic value is treatable easily compared with a prepaid card, a banknote, a money ticket, and the like, use of the electronic value is becoming widespread. However, the prepaid card, the banknote, the money ticket, and the like are also still used together with the electronic value.
As an art for more convenient use of the electronic value, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-003399 discloses a system for transferring a prepaid value from a prepaid card to an electronic money card, and updating a prepaid value on the prepaid card by subtracting the transferred prepaid value. According to this art, adjustment can be performed with one electronic money card, using both of a prepaid value and an electronic value prestored on the electronic money card.
However, the above system has an inconvenient problem. Different from a prepaid card, a ticket such as a paper money ticket and a coupon ticket has assigned thereto non-updatable value information. Hence, adjustment cannot be performed using the ticket together with the electronic value.
For example, suppose a user desires to purchase a book using a personal computer and the like, via a network. The user has an electronic value less than a price of the book. Even if a total of a face value of his book coupon and the electronic value exceeds the price of the book, the user cannot purchase the book. This causes inconvenience.
In view of the above problem, the present invention aims to provide a useful ticket management system that can perform adjustment using a ticket such as a money ticket together with an electronic value.